This one is for sellers. You’ve chosen an agent, listed your home, and you’re now awaiting showings.

The first, or “lead” photo of your home is an important one. It’s the default photo not just in the MLS for other agents to browse & set appointments off of, but is also the default picture on Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, and any other major site that draws info from the MLS – buyers are all over these sites.

So what does this photo say about your home? And what does it say about your agent?

1. The Off-Seasoner

So we’re just about as far from snow as you can get on the calandar from an actual snow date.

What it means about your home:
“Well if it’s been on the market for this long, there must be something very very horribly wrong with it.” That’s what your prospective buyer is thinking when they come across this picture.

What it means about your agent:
Unfortunately, they have more important things to do, you’re at the bottom of their list. Actually, you might want to give a call and see if they even remember that they have your home listed.

2. The Drive-By

Camera Phone photo from a moving car. Photo is off-center.

What it means about your home:
There’s nothing special going on here. No pretty scenery, no real value. You have no curb appeal.

What it means about your agent:
They’re disorganized, and poor time-managers. And even worse, they don’t have dollars for a real camera in their business or personal budget. They do not take their listings seriously, and they might not truly believe they can sell your home.

3. The Wrong Time of Day

The sun is BEHIND the home.

What it means about your home:
Your house ends up looking dark, shady, cold, and vacant. A viewer’s natural response would be SO much more favorable with sun shining bright on the front of your house.

What it means about your agent:
I’ll be a little bit nice on this one – your agent probably just has very little photographic knowledge. They probably never took a class, read an article, or put much thought into this one. A picture like this one could also signal that they didn’t plan very well to set aside the proper time to photograph their home.

4. The Car Shot

What’s for sale here… cars or a house? A driveway or a home?

What it means about your home:
This is not an inviting shot. First of all, is your driveway the best feature of your home? It’s in the foreground and taking up most of the frame. Your front door isn’t even visible. Your home is not being properly represented if your photo has a driveway and cars as the main focal point.

What it means about your agent:
Simply put, this agent is lazy. If they did not insist that you move your cars or offer to do it for you, I’d question how hard they will work on actually selling your home. It would take a maximum of about 5 minutes to get the cars out of this picture.

More to come! If you are interested in what well-planned, well-thought-out photography looks like, take a look at what we do here.
We take pride in presenting every single Keri Ricci Team listings in the best possible way!